closing down shops on Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive to make use of your black Amex card.â
âSo the dizzying bills remind me each time I see them.â
His face was still so fascinating. Harsh and male and undeniably Greek, yet so intensely beautiful she wasnât surprised to see the way women and men alike reacted to him. The double takes. The second, longer glances. And none of them, she was sure, could see that ferocity in his dark eyes. The hint of violence she knew heâd never direct at her. Not physically, anyway, not in a way that would truly hurt her.
Sex, of course, was a different storyâbut she couldnât let herself think about that. About that last time, right after her âconfession,â so raw and possessive and
furious
...
âIs this small talk?â he asked softly. She wasnât fooled by that tone. She could feel its lethal power deep in her bones, tightening around her like a noose. âI havenât grown any more interested in such things, Holly. I told you four years ago what we would discuss if you dared face me again. Is this really where youâd like to have that conversation?â
âFar be it from me to direct you in anything,â she replied, angling her body back so she looked far more at ease than she was, and it was harder than it should have been to remember what she was doing here, when he was
right there
and her instinct was to protect herself. To keep him hating her, which hurt more in the moment but was safer in the long run. Safer and colder and emptier. So much emptier. Hadnât she spent all these years proving that to herselfâin case her childhood hadnât taught her that lesson first? âI know itâs so important to you that you remain in control.â
âI imagine that is the point of this charade, is it not?â He was stroking that wineglass the way heâd once stroked her body, and she was certain it was deliberate. That he knew exactly what that slow sweep of his tapered, too-strong fingers against the glass did inside of her. The streaks of fire. That deep, hard clench within. âThe honeymoon suite, the clever little rose petals, like a forced death march down memory lane straight back into the fires of hell. And you have always done hell with such flair, have you not?â His gaze slammed into hers then. âWhat do you want from me?â
âI told you what I wanted.â
It was hard to keep her voice even when he was on the other side of such a tiny little table, his intense physicality, his rampant maleness, like an industrial-force magnet. Holly had forgotten that, somehow. Sheâd forgotten that so much of being near Theo was being utterly helpless and under his spell.
In his thrall.
Sheâd had to leave him or disappear into him, never to be seen again, and she remembered why, now. She could feel it, like a black hole, sucking her in all over againâthe same way this same kind of destructive love had sucked in her father all those years ago. Sheâd watched how this ended before. Why did she think it could be different now?
She kept her gaze level on Theoâs and tried not to think about her parents. âA divorce.â
âI told you I wouldnât give you one. And it has not yet been those magical four years that would release you, anyway. You shouldnât have come to Barcelona if that was really what you wanted. This resets the clock, does it not?â
âWhat does it matter if weâre in the same city?â she asked, more bravado than anything else, and she threw in a little scoffing sound, just to maintain the brittle facade a few minutes more. âWeâre not staying together. Weâre not even staying in the same hotel.â
That surprised him. Holly could see it in a brief flash of
something
before he shuttered that dark gaze of his, and that made her decision to stay in The Harrington, a luxurious boutique hotel in